Spain-Portugal, case study Ex post evaluation of Cohesion Policy programmes 2007-2013, financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and Cohesion Fund (CF)

Abstract

No specific (sub-) priority or project code was used to quantify which projects specifically focused on “capacity building”. Instead, the focus was to explore the ways which “capacity building” was enhanced in different thematic domains, such as innovation, environment, administrative capacity etc. This approach was informed by stakeholders interviewed for the Spain-Portugal programme, including the JTS, who clearly stated that the respective priorities contribute transversally, in different ways and extents, to developing “capacity building” across the border. From the outset, it is important to emphasise that the historical, cultural, socio-economic and territorial context of the “border” between Spain and Portugal poses a number of “barriers” to cooperation for the CBC programme. A key finding to emerge from the evaluation is that the CBC funding has really had a significant impact in changing the mentality of stakeholders on both sides of the border. The result has ensured that the “border” is no longer viewed as much as a “barrier” as it once was but rather as a way in which common issues and challenges can be tackled. The Spain-Portugal programme has made significant achievements which have had a range of impacts. In particular, stakeholders stressed the ways in which the Spain-Portugal programme had enhanced “capacity building” through the development of “softer” elements of cooperation such as trust, networking and joint working. Such qualitative elements of the programme are harder to “measure” and so there is a need for more tailored indicators developed specifically to capture the value of the cross border programmes.